Valleys of the Dead
by Lonewalker
Summary: A look into the perspective of the characters from Dead or Alive during the events of Ninja Gaiden II


It all started as a simple mission really, go to this location, locate the target and end its existence before anyone was the wiser

**After playing all the Dead or Alive games, it is hard to realize that Ryu hayabusa is a main part of the story as well. So if he is part of DOA, then it is obvious to say that the DOA characters are a part of the Ninja Gaiden world. This is simply a brief look at one of those characters during the events of Ninja Gaiden II, when the entire world basically goes to hell.**

It all started as a simple mission really, go to this location, locate the target and end its existence before anyone was the wiser. Simple and by the book. At first everything was going according to plan. He had gotten into China with none the wiser, ignored Kasumi's attempts to keep an eye on him while trying (and tried she did, god bless her) to remain hidden. No one else knew she always followed him around, so he saw no problem in claiming that he hadn't seen hide nor hair of her since the last Dead or Alive tournament.

Of course everything was going smoothly, way too smoothly for a ninja of his caliber. It was a fact that they always sent him on the suicide missions, because hey, none but the top ninjas in Japan can constantly beat the odds. Part of him never quite got over the fact that everyone keeps referring to him as one of the top ninjas, not THE top ninja.

He needed a break they said, there were no serious threats to worry about they said, HA! No sooner had he had his target in site did everything go to hell. Typical sign of the incoming Apocalypse really, skies go dark, random bolts of lightning striking everywhere. Really he was used to this sort of thing, so it is to be said with slight embarrassment that Hayate was slightly (mildly really, he obviously would have known at any other time if he wasn't simply overworked) surprised to find out that the fiends from the legends were resurrected. Though there were only a few out and about, the people did not have much to worry about as the main concentrations of fiends were in New York, Venice, Moscow and some jungle.

Naturaly his orders changed immediately. The Mugen Tenshin clan was sent out in full force throughout the globe to take care of the fiends. He himself was sent out to Venice to exterminate those Lycanthropes. Vicious bastards. When he asked about taking out the Greater Fiends in the city, his only response was that it was already being taken care of. He immediately suspected something but had to put that aside as he was ambushed by over a dozen members of the Black Spider Clan.

Now Hayate was by no means a coward, he'd go face a pack of feral Lycans in a heart beat, but he would not hesitate to admit that it felt damn good killing things that would actually bleed when his weapon hit! So maybe he did let out the gleeful little giggle when he massacred those rookies, but after the week he'd been having, he had the right to show a little giddiness at easy targets.

Within three weeks Venice was contained and he and a dozen others of his clan made their way towards some Coliseum that was summoned (not to mention destroying at least a several block radius as well) where the Greater Fiend, Volf he believed it was called, made its appearance. They entered the coliseum to find nothing but a massacre that they had missed by days. Lycans littered the sand covered ground. If he hadn't seen similar battlefields in the past, he was fairly sure he would have tossed out the contents from his stomach.

Limbs were severed, decapitated bodies, the audience area was covered in bodies grounded into a pulp. While the bodies in the arena were definitely felled by a weapon of some kind, the rest were destroyed by explosives, most likely an aircraft of some type.

They rounded up and killed the survivors, losing four of their own and made their way to their next destination.

Moscow, admittedly wasn't as badly hit as New York and Venice. While they did lose a great amount of life, it was mainly military and not the countless civilians that were in the other cities. He still had no idea how the clans were going to cover this one up. The vigor Empire was one things, it was reclusive and not many paid attention to it, demon magics would do that to the average person. But these were well known beacons of civilization. Hayate spend several minutes contemplating this problem on his transport to the jungle when he realized that he simply didn't give a damn.

Same job, hunt down any fiend remnants, Black Spider Ninjas were a minor nuisance to be dealt with later. Of course they didn't have much to do as the path they followed was littered with their corpses. Two weeks they spent in that damn jungle, 17 ninja lost. 3 were taken by malaria, 13 by fiends and rogue ninja alike, and one by a Black Spider Ninja that did a kamikaze with an incendiary shuriken. That was one mess that he was quite pissed about cleaning up.

They made their way to a dried up waterfall with a pool of blood at the base, made their way in to a cleverly hidden sacrificial temple and found a site that even had Hayate's jaw dropping.

The vast staircase leading up to the temple was littered with hundred of dead ninja. From what he heard, only one man was ahead of his team, and he alone caused all of this carnage.

In the end there was nothing to be found and they returned to Tokyo, met up with Ayane, proceeded to yell at her to put on some proper bloody clothes (how she jumped around while her bust bounced everywhere, he'll never know), which was followed by her politely telling him to mind his own business and to update the clan on what was happening. He couldn't help a groan of irritation that it was indeed Ryu going on a fool's quest to stop this fiend uprising, alone…again. It was Vigoor all over again. And the Hayabusa village was destroyed again. He felt only slightly guilty that he saw that one coming.

No sooner did Ayane inform him that Ryu was inside Mount Fuji did he round up all available ninja and set off for the mountain. Of course after an hour's run, they were stopped when it seemed that the mountain erupted. Making their way to the top, ready to fight and die, they were surprised to see the legendary ninja calmly walk out (having only a few scratches) with two swords strapped to his body, along with a pair of Vigoorian Flails (he remembered Ryu once referring to the weapons with what seemed fondness in his usual impassive tone) and what had to be the biggest damn Scythe he'd ever seen. God damn, how the hell was he carrying that with one arm?

What next caught his attention was the blonde woman walking by his side as though in a daze wearing an outfit that even made Ayane arch an eyebrow. Dear god he could see everything!

Ryu made no sign of acknowledgment, simply walking by them, pausing only to instruct Ayane to get the female to a medic then proceeded back down the mountain towards his village.

He hesitated only half an hour to give his men instructions before going down the mountain to the ruins of the Hayabusa village. Heh, not as many casualties this time around, must have been a busy few months of missions. Either that or it was a testament as to how badly the clan was hurt after the Vigoor Empire's attack.

Not finding him there, Hayate made his way to Tokyo towards the only place that he could even say that the ninja came close to hanging out at.

Admittedly he didn't have as much fondness for Muramasa's skills as Ryu did. Very few ninjas did. Then again, most ninja are cautious against those who would smithy weapons for anyone with the appropriate amount of money. The ninjas of the Hayabusa clan were the only exceptions.

He found him inside, Muramasa fawning over the blade of the Archfiend and the gigantic Scythe propped up against the wall of his smithy, already making plans to forge it in harder materials. Ryu, mask off, was sipping from a cup of green tea acting for the life of him as though he hadn't been neck high in death for the past two months. He pointedly ignored Kasumi's presence and she looked as though she was about to say something before catching the look from Ryu.

He never regretted asking him to protect his sister. No ninja in his clan would dare go after her if they knew that the Hayabusa protégé was protecting her. Though Hayate was obligated to kill her on site as well, he could calmly say that he simply saw something out of the corner of his eyes that he can not be sure was actually there. And he didn't bother looking because she would not be foolish enough to show herself to him, so he can't really kill someone who isn't there now can he?

So there he stood in a small shop nearly quivering in front of his longtime friend. He had many questions and all of them had the same word: How? How can he do what he can, how can he defeat several greater fiends without showing any severe damage? How, how, how?

Instead, the questions were interrupted as Ryu calmly looked up to him and offered a cup. "Tea?"


End file.
